54 HISTOEY AND METHODS OF THE FISHER, 



in the cabin were nearly smothered by the steam and gas which was driven from the cabin stove by 

 a stream of water that ran down the stovepipe upon the burning coal. Barefooted, bareheaded, and 

 panting for breath, they were glad to get out on top of the house where they could breathe the 

 fresh air. 



Although we had met with little or no damage from being "sprawled" out twice, it was, 

 nevertheless, too unpleasant an experience for us to encounter again, so we hove to for a few hours 

 until the moon rose, when, the sea having gone down somewhat, we started again on our course. 



We struck the Grand Bank on our third trip that year in 44 23' N. latitude, where we found 

 several vessels at anchor in 70 and 80 fathoms. They had been getting good fishing, but the 

 halibut were growing scarcer when we arrived there. We had a couple of sets, but not meeting 

 with much success ran to the northwest, near where we were the spring before. We made two 

 sets in that locality, but did not strike halibut. We therefore ran back to the southeast one night 

 to learn if the vessels were catching any fish along the western edge of the bank. The following 

 morning we spoke two or three schooners lying at anchor, after which we had a set under sail. 

 We caught only a few halibut, and when the dories were all aboard from hauling, the wind was 

 blowing smart from the southward; we kept off and ran 60 or 70 miles northwesterly again, in 

 company with several other vessels, to latitude 44 50', where we anchored in 80 fathoms at 9 

 o'clock in the evening. It was blowing a smart breeze, when we anchored, with a sharp choppy 

 sea. Nevertheless, we hoisted out the top dories and set four skates of trawl, in two strings, to 

 try the ground, although I did not expect to get any halibut, for I thought the bottom was too 

 muddy. 



The next morning it blew too hard to go out, but at 11 a. m. the wind mod* rated and the men 

 went to haul their gear. Before the men in either one of the dories had hauled a skate of trawl 

 they stuck up an oar for some one to come and take their fish. 



We now had a busy time; some of us going to assist those who were hauling and others start- 

 ing off to set the trawls which were baited. We had but live dories then, and could set only six 

 more skates of gear, and on the ten skates of trawl, the four which we set at night and six in the 

 day, we got 20,000 pounds of halibut. We were hauling and setting gear all the afternoon and 

 evening. The last dory to come aboard arrived alongside with a load at 10 p. m., and it was sev- 

 eral hours after midnight before we got the fish dressed and iced. 



The halibut were moving slowly to the northward and westward, and we had to shift our 

 position twice before we completed our fare. 



We fished five days in that vicinity and got enough, with the 12,000 pounds we had before, to 

 weigh off 92,000 pounds, besides 4,000 pounds of " logy," or thin halibut. The schooners Polar 

 Wave, Carrie P. Morton, Davy Crockett, and Elisha Crowell, fresh fishermen, were in company, 

 and the schooners Mary E., Ocean Belle, and Wachusett, on salt or flitching trips. All of them 

 did remarkably well. 



On our fourth trip we went to Green Bank, about 25 miles farther to the westward, where we 

 got the last fish on the previous cruise, of which an account has been given. The fog was very 

 dense for several days after we arrived on the Bank, which undoubtedly was the reason that we 

 missed getting a good fare. We found few halibut, and I thought perhaps that they had not 

 worked so far to the westward, but had staid where they did the year before. I also heard the 

 sound of a vessel's cannon, fired as a signal for her dories, which I thought was to the eastward, 

 but in that I was mistaken. There, was no indication of the fog clearing, so we got under way and 

 kept shifting to the eastward, trying the ground as we went. 



When we were between Green Bank and Grand Bank, the schooner Hereward came along one 



